ExtractTocqueville described long ago what we’re now going through with the Yellow Vests

Paradoxically, many of the complaints made by the Gilets jaunes (Yellow Vest protesters) sound like the political prescription of La République en marche! supporters in 2016. So says Gaspard Koenig, liberal philosopher and president of the think-tank, Génération Libre. That revolutions break out in countries that reform themselves, was already observed by Alexis de Tocqueville in his L’Ancien Régime et la Révolution [The Former Regime and the Revolution].

The Bavarian Church stands accused of interfering with European policy on people smuggling.

Cardinal Marx : The Sham Altruist

Cardinal Reinhard Marx transfers €50,000 to the sea-rescue mission Lifeline — exclusively from diocesan funds. Legally, that might be in order. But in doing so, the cardinal overstretches his remit in an un-Christian way.

France is a warning

With the election of Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer as its new party chairman, the CDU has settled for continuity. It has, thereby, thrown away its chance to regain the lost confidence of the citizens. France provides an indication of where this path might lead.

As reported by Cicero Magazine, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (“AKK”) succeeded Angela Merkel as chairman of the Christian Democratic Union, at the party conference, 7th December. The victory was narrow, and went to a second round run-off election between Kramp-Karrenbauer and Merz.

The final result was uncannily close to that of the Brexit referendum — Leave 51.89%, Remain, 48.11% — although in the opposite sense. AKK, the anointed of Angela Merkel, will be counted upon to provide transitional stability, allowing the Chancellor to remain more or less comfortably in her post until the 2021 Bundestag elections. The right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) will no doubt be welcoming the result. AKK, the Merkel-protégée, will be far less likely than Friedrich Merz, the Schäuble-protégé, to win back voters lost to the AfD in 2017 over the principal national issue: immigration policy. Add to that the piquant sauce served up by the narrowness of the Merkel-AKK win.

In 2017, François Ruffin addressed a letter to Emmanuel Macron, describing the “hatred” that the French felt for him. More than a year later, the Deputy hammers in the message again: “What unites the Gilets jaunes [Yellow Vests] is the aversion you provoke.”

Counterpoint : These back-downs imposed by the street trivialize the presidency of Emmanuel Macron and demonstrate its vulnerability.

If, according to the wise formula of Pierre Mendès-France, “to govern is to choose”, then Emmanuel Macron and Édouard Philippe are no longer governing. For the three announced “moratoriums” were in no sense chosen: they were imposed, granted out of war-weariness and the absence of any other card to play to appease an anger that showed no signs of subsiding.